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Monthly Archives: July 2008

So, officials at Charter Oak High School have decided to reprint and replace pages of the yearbook that include racially offensive names and numerous errors.

It also came to light that teachers and students may have known that Black Student Union members had fake names such as “Tay Tay Shaniqua,” “Crisphy Nanos” and “Laquan White” in the yearbook before they were distributed.

Here is the beginning of my story that ran today:

COVINA – Students and teachers at Charter Oak High School may have known that racially offensive names were printed in the yearbook before all of the books were distributed, officials said Wednesday.

School Board President Joseph Probst said students may have alerted a teacher of the error when the first round of books was distributed to seniors.

“Some people discovered the error first and they didn’t react as fast as they could have,” Probst said. “They weren’t sensitive to it and we need to make sure people are being responsible.”

Summer school is the latest to feel the brunt of state cuts to education. This just in from the State Superintendent:

“SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell held a news conference today at McClatchy High School with members of the education community to highlight the effect of budget cuts to education on summer school programs across the state.

“The elimination of summer school courses threatens to significantly affect students already behind in their schoolwork because they will miss out on the chance to catch up to their peers over the summer break,” O’Connell said.

“Some districts that offer summertime intervention programs for English learners cannot afford to keep their classrooms open. Even schools that are just scaling back what they offer will begin offering classes only to students who need to complete courses in order to graduate. This means that students looking to get ahead or improve their grade point average will not be able to do so.” “

The Azusa Unified School District’s Board of Education has selected Vincent Jantz as new Director of Student Achievement 6-12. He replaces Marlene Ministeri who is retiring this summer.

Prior to joining the District, Mr. Jantz was principal at Calabasas High School. He has also served as an assistant principal at Santa Ana High School.In addition, he has taught grades 6-12 in the Santa Ana Unified School District and at Cal-State Fullerton, Western State University, Santa Ana College and the University of Redlands.

After completing his bachelors’ degree at Cal-State Fullerton, he received his master’s from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctor from Southwestern University.

The position was approved at a June 24 board meeting. The salary for the Director of Student Achievement 6-12 is $111,907, according to district spokeswoman, Kathy Miller.

Civil rights leaders called on African-American students at Charter Oak High School to turn in all racially defaced Yearbooks. School officials have not told when or if the yearbooks will be replaced. “Charter Oak school officials have made a vague promise to replace the yearbooks. They have not said when that will happen. Therefore we will call on black students to turn in their defaced yearbooks to the school district office,” says Earl Ofari Hutchinson, President, Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, ” The action sends the message that the offensive year books must be immediately replaced and a formal apology issued to the parents and students by Charter Oak District school officials.”